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5 Quick Updates To Make Your Blog More Reader Friendly

This past week I have been navigating my way round various blogs, both new and old, alternating between swooning in awe and wishing for just a little more.

I’m by no means a pro blogger, but I have been an avid reader of blogs for over 4 years or so, and as a reader of blogs I’ve picked up on a few things which make the experience an enjoyable one and which makes me more likely to return.

1. Optimise Your Photos

Blogging isn’t all about photos, but when you do use a photo in a blog post, make the most of it.

There are numerous free to use photo editing sites if your photo needs tweaking.

But the one thing you can do to make your photos POP is make the size of them count. Often times I see a blog post with tiny photos, they could be amazing photos, but due to being tiny they loose their impact.

2. Be Social

One of the wonderful benefits of blogging is the relationships you build with not only other bloggers but non bloggers as well.

Don’t make it difficult for your readers to contact/find you on social media.

Group all your social media profiles in one place, towards the top of your blog is an ideal place for them. Make sure the links all work, it’s so frustrating to click on a social media icon only to end up no where!

Speaking of being social…I’d love some likes or whatever on my FB page, it’s new and I have no friends. *sobs*

3. Make It Easy To Comment

Oh my gosh, is there anything more frustrating in the blogging community that captcha?

I mean really, there isn’t enough coffee or cake to get my head round some of the ghastly combinations of letters and numbers they come up with.

Please, please if you only do one thing to your blog this year, remove captcha. Please.

If you are concerned about spam comments, you can moderate before allowing comments to appear.

You are most likely putting people off from commenting if you use captcha.

4. Stream Line The Sidebars

Most blogs make use of the space on either or both sides of their blog, this is prime space for social media profiles, link parties you host, favourite blogs or relevant advertisements.

Try to avoid cluttering it up with 40 odd buttons, this just increases the time it takes for pages to load and distracts the reader from the actual blog posts.

If you do have blog buttons in your sidebar, check the links still work.

5. Promote Yourself

Your blog is the best place to promote your older posts, allowing new readers to see previous content.

You can make a gallery page of your recipes, projects or popular posts, keeping everything all in one place.

Alternatively you can use a 3rd party widget / plugin to add relevant posts to each blog posts.

I use Linkwithin, a free widget which shows 3,4 or 5 relevant blog posts, with an image below each blog post. I’ve definitely seen an increase in blog traffic thanks to this little widget!

If you do nothing else, please check to see if you have captcha on your blog, and if you do, make it go away, pretty please!

Did the post say why to use it? With the number of people complaining about the difficulty of reading the letter/number combinations, I'm surprised its being recommended.Each to their own, but I don't think I shall be using it any time soon

I think it was something about spam filter. Time after time I have seen even forums full with spam comments.And I need to agree about photos - I have started to use as big as possible my photos. Looks much better :)

Ahh I see, it is a good spam filter, but the complexity of the letter/number combos is frustrating to many. I've seen the 'tick to prove you're human / not spam' filters, this is a more user friendly option for commenter's, think I shall have a look in to it!Oh yes, photos are one area where 'bigger is better' really counts!

Yes, I have seen those "tick this to prove you're human" and "write answer for 2+2". I think they are more reader friendly,however - you can always refresh captcha :) As more I think about this, as more I feel I should find something for my blog as well - I don't like those comment moderating things as it makes me feel - if I will say something good, it will be published otherwise - not. So - some creative "tick this" or "2+2" probably what I should find this weekend :)

This is such a useful post Amanda. You have listed all my pet hates....especially Captcha! I used to make my photos small because I was slightly embarrassed of the quality but as you say, they have much better impact as large pics. I couldn't work out how to like you on FB either - update this post and where you ask for my likes put a direct link into it woman! Great post :)

Enjoyed the post! I've been doing a blogging experiment this week and have been trying to comment on at least 40 blogs every day and I really really really dislike captcha. It hasn't even been a full week yet and I'm beginning to dread seeing those friggin wiggly numbers. There's one particular version where it is anybody's guess what the sodding numbers are. It looks like it's underwater and the lines have turned all wavy. Argh. It often takes a couple of goes before I get it right and by then I'm getting all twisted myself about someone making it so hard to leave a !@## pleasant !@#%% comment.

I don't mind moderation or the tick box or the random question/answer thingey. I also can't stand the comments that force me to use Google+ thing too.